


Prepared

by FeatherWriter



Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, CFSWF, Gen, Tien Lives AU, Trauma, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-10 19:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11132847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherWriter/pseuds/FeatherWriter
Summary: All of my friends say that the fics I write are too tragic and sad. They wanted me to write an AU where Tien lived. Well.This is that fic.





	Prepared

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BeneathSilverStars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeneathSilverStars/gifts).



Tien was not prepared for the army.

His hands shook as the gripped the spear, the weapon feeling too large in his hands. He’d had basic training, but he didn’t know anything about fighting, about spear work, about squad formations.

He knew even less about killing.  
They had said he wouldn’t have to fight. They had said he would be a messenger. Amaram had promised. But when the tides of the battle turned, promises became cheap things indeed. He tried to calm his trembling nerves, but he was terrified. He’d only been out on the field a few minutes with his newly assembled squad, and while they hadn’t had an altercation with the enemy yet, he knew that wasn’t going to last very long.

I’ll follow my orders, and everything will be okay. The squadleader knows what he’s doing. He knows we’re new at this. He’ll protect us. I just have to trust him and do as he says. Perhaps if things got too hectic, he could slip away, go find Kaladin. Kaladin would know what to do. Kaladin always knew what to do.

His squad leader ordered him and the other messengers forward, and he could sense something was wrong. The enemy soldiers rushed forward and Tien turned, looking for the support of the rest of his squad, only to find they’d stepped back. Eyes wide, he looked back just in time to see the boys to either side of him fall to spears. A lighteyed officer at the front of the enemy formation stood before him, steel armor gleaming.

He raised a sword. Tien dropped his spear.

And then he was there.

There was a crack of spear haft against wrist as the sword missed its mark. Kaladin’s spear came as if out of nowhere, narrowly deflecting the blow that was to have killed Tien. Kaladin set himself in front of Tien, alone, facing down six soldiers.

He went for the officer first, moving in a blur. His movements weren’t as practiced as the other soldiers – he and Tien had only been in the army a few months, but there was a desperate energy in the way Kaladin fought. Fighting to protect.

Tien’s squad moved to fill in the attack pattern, supporting Kaladin’s assault. Tien looked down, reaching for his fallen spear. The wood felt slick beneath his hands. Too smooth. Foreign. He wasn’t supposed to hold a weapon. It just felt wrong.

A sudden pained cry.

An all-too-familiar cry.

Tien looked up just in time to see the officer pull his sword free from Kaladin’s midsection. Both brothers’ eyes went wide in shock as Kaladin’s hand numbly went to the wound and he fell to his knees.

“Kaladin!” Tien screamed, scrambling forward. His legs didn’t seem to work right.

Kaladin actually smiled. Blood specked his lips as he managed to cough out his next words. His last words. “You’re… safe…”

It was a miracle no one struck Tien down as he stumbled the rest of the distance. He barely thought about it. Kaladin was gone by the time Tien reached him. Kaladin hadn’t been a lighteyes, but with that emptiness, that horrible emptiness, Tien could swear that a light had left them.

“Don’t worry,” Tien whispered. He could feel the tears on his face. “I can fix this. You just have to tell me how to do it, Kal. Dad trained you himself. You know everything. Just tell me what to do, Kal. I can fix this…”


End file.
